Forever England: North and South

by Beryl Bainbridge

Chronicling the fates of six English families, this chronicle of England in the twentieth century examines the circumstances of birth, class, economic opportunity, and social custom that define the lives of ordinary English people.

Genres: British Literature

174 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Dame Beryl Margaret Bainbridge DBE was an English writer from Liverpool. She was primarily known for her works of psychological fiction, often set among the English working classes. Bainbridge won the Whitbread Award twice and was nominated for the Booker Prize five times. In 2008, The Times newspaper named Bainbridge among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

Reviews

[Rozanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting--especially because of how dated the attitudes from the 1980s seem. My favorite bits of this book were Bainbridge's own reminiscences and finding out how closely she based many of the incidents in her novels on her own experiences. Some seem almost identical.

[China · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only did I enjoy the accounts of English life, the differences between North and South, but - simply put - this is one of the finest writing styles I've ever run across.

[Lila · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently a spin-off from a 6-part BBC set of interviews (which I didn't see), the author interleaves her own reminiscences of growing up in Northern England with her interviews with families living in the North and South of England as a sort of revisit/update of the two Englands theme well established in 19th century novels. The approach is initially confusing when trying to sort out the speakers. Americans should be well familiar with England's geography to fully grasp what she is doing.

[Len · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book the Thatcher years provide a stage to show the shape and nature England's society, of which structure Margaret believed there was an absence. Its origin was a six-part television series of interviews with various families in different parts of England showing how local economies and political views either divide or unite the country.

The interviews were ordered differently in the documentary compared to the book but they are the same six families: the Coglans of Hastings, traditionally fisher-folk from the south east; the Brittons of Barnsley, some struggling to come to terms with the extinction of coal mining in Yorkshire; the Johnsons of Otterburn, traditionally sheep farmers in the rural north east having to accept that the younger generation may not see the attraction of snow shrouded fells in winter; the Roses of Birmingham, a mixed race family from the industrial Midlands; the Macleans of Liverpool, from Beryl Bainbridge's home area in the north west with their problems of job insecurity and unemployment; and the Powells of Bentley, a financially comfortable family from London's leafy commuter belt.

I probably watched the programme, though I have no memory of it. In the book it comes across as the author continually wanting to liven up the proceedings with reminiscences of her own life, which are very funny and witty but do form obstacles to the purpose of the documentary. Of course it may be that on the screen the joins between interviews and reminiscences were far smoother. I don't think that anything very revelatory comes out of it. People in 1980s England would have been well aware of the perceived differences between north and south, and would not have been surprised at the contrast between the lifestyles of the Powells and the Macleans. They would have experienced working class Tories and heard of former public schoolboys with a social conscience – well, there have always been a few of them.

One set of interviews may have stood out: the Roses. White Debbie, her black partner Mervyn, their mixed race children Aaron and Joleon, and their families and friends. For once the interviews are not about work, earning a living or surviving on benefits, they are about race in modern England. Sadly we are left not knowing the nature of such opinions in Surrey, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Merseyside or Sussex. Racial divisions or assimilations didn't seem to have any relevance in those areas in the 1980s – if these interviews are correct.